Anarchist Black Cross

Prisoner Support and Prison Abolition

Mumia Supporters Descend on Harrisburg

Over a thousand demonstrators descended on Harrisburg, Penn. on Tuesday Jan. 17, 1995 during the inauguration of Republican Tom Ridge as governor. Chanting "Free Mumia" and "No Justice, No Peace," the demonstration made its way to city hall near the governors' platform. Coming from New York, New Jersey, Chicago, Washington, DC, Chicago, as well as Canada, the enraged demonstrators assured an unpleasant day for the governor, who ran on a law and order platform stressing his desire to sign death warrants when elected.

Mumia Abu-Jamal is an award-winning journalist and political activist, who was convicted of the murder of a Philadelphia cop on Dec. 9, 1981. The facts of Mumia's trial have been well documented elsewhere. The Judge, Albert Sabo, has sentenced more people to death than any other sitting judge. Jamal was denied the right to represent himself or have an attorney of his choice. All Blacks, except two were excluded from the jury, in a city which is over 40% Black. Critical evidence that demonstrated Jamal's innocence was suppressed. Mumia Abu-Jamal was convicted and sentenced to death because of his membership in the Black Panther Party in the 1960s. Further evidence of this is the Penn. Supreme Court's affirmation of Mumia's death sentence and the US Supreme Court's refusal to hear Jamal's appeals, which emphasized his membership in the Party.

The legal lynching of Mumia must be stopped. Every time Mumia has had a chance to speak on his charges and the powers of the state he has been silenced. After announcing plans to air a series of commentaries by Jamal, National Public Radio (NPR) caved in to pressure by the Philadelphia Fraternal Order of the Police, canceling the broadcasts. Senate Republican Leader and 1996 Presidential hopeful Bob Dole threatened to cut off NPR's funding.

The Penn. Department of Corrections transferred Mumia to its super maximum security prison on Jan. 13. This super-max is not only further away from Mumia's supporters, it tightens the conditions of his lockdown. Further, Waynesburg is a hotbed of neo-nazi and Klan activity.

Metal Detector Madness!

Anti-Fascist Defense Committee Update

by Justine Abinni

You never know what you're gonna have to do next to support an anti-racist comrade. This time in Minneapolis we took off our steel toes and studded belts. With baggy pants crashing to the floor and squirmy feet peeking out of socks with holes we still stood proud and strong as anti-racists and impassioned supporters of Kieran Frazier Knutson.

Over a year ago Kieran was charged with felonies for defending himself and others from a nazi skinhead who attacked an anti-racist demonstration on the University of Minnesota campus.

Because we turned up the heat, they turned loose their goons. On Monday, Jan. 30, Hennepin County Government Center security—with serious attitude problems—sent Kieran's family, friends, and supporters through metal detectors, a rare phenomenon in Minnesota courts, as well as searched our belongings, only for the judge to rule that the trial would be delayed again, for the sixth time in over a year. Metal detectors have been used in Hennepin County only in high-profile cases in which the state wants to cultivate the idea that the defendants and their supporters are dangerous. Of course they do this knowing that the jury becomes biased in the prosecution's favor. The next court date is set for Mar. 9.

Well, HELLO!, we may be beltless, but we're not stupid! We believe that the pumped-up security was in response to a lively demonstration and angry visit to County Attorney Mike Freeman's office that occurred on Friday, Jan. 27 at the government center. About 75 people attended a demo with speakers from Hotel Workers Local 17, Frente del Norte, Jewish Activist Minyan, Anarchist Black Cross, The Blast!, Twin Cities Coalition to Defend Mumia Abu-Jamal, CISPES, Refuse and Resist, The Welfare Rights Committee, Up and Out of Poverty, Anti-Racist Action, and the Love and Rage Federation. But this time we didn't just speak, chant and wave banners. In order to show Mike Freeman, Pete Connors, and the whole crew up in the Hennepin County Attorney's office that we are still furious about the state's prosecution of Kieran, the demonstration paid their office a visit. Our demands were: (1) drop the charges; (2) stop harassing anti-racist activists; and (3) stop forcing the press to collect evidence for state prosecutors. About 40 of us occupied the lobby to Freeman's office for an hour. As a result Mike Freeman, an "elected official!", was forced to meet with us, and although he had supposedly "gone home for the day," he miraculously reappeared for a meeting with three members of the Anti-Fascist Defense Committee two hours after our mass presence in his office.

Our meeting with Mike Freeman was less than satisfying, and after a year of waiting for some response from his office, after hundreds of letters from all over the world and phone calls up the wazoo, we were not surprised. Of course we know that politicians get to hide behind all kinds of formalities so they don't have to answer our questions, but we're gonna bug 'em anyway 'cause they deserve it! In any case, the county attorney's office couldn't answer our questions. They couldn't tell us if and how they proceeded with investigating the felony charges filed by the police against Kieran. They couldn't disclose whether they bothered to investigate the context of the incident from which Kieran's charges stem. And of course they couldn't acknowledge that they did not pursue an investigation into the evidence that proves that Daniel Simmer is a known nazi. When I talked with a law clerk in Freeman's office, she didn't seem to know that Daniel Simmer's affiliation with organized nazi groups was even an issue. When asked why charges against the nazi were dropped right away, Freeman quickly responded that it is the city attorney's job to handle misdemeanors. The county attorney's office would have us believe that all of their decisions pertaining to this case are purely technical, and that the prosecution could not be motivated by political bias. WE MADE IT CLEAR TO HIM THAT THE ONLY JUSTICE FOR KIERAN AND THE LOCAL ANTI-RACIST MOVEMENT WILL BE AN ACQUITTAL, AND THAT IN A TRULY FREE SOCIETY ANTI-RACISTS WOULD BE PROTECTED FROM NAZIS!

Freedom for Kawana Ashley and Reproductive Freedom for All Women

Kawana Ashley is a 19 year old woman who found herself with an unwanted pregnancy. She had a 3-month-old child and was afraid her grandmother, who Ms. Ashley lives with, would be reluctant to accept another child. Her boyfriend promised to get money for Ms. Ashley's abortion, but he never came through. After Ms. Ashley raised a good bit of the money herself, she found it wasn't enough. The St. Petersburg area clinic she went to wanted $1300 to $1800 for the procedure. Ms. Ashley didn't have that much. With no support from her boyfriend and in a desperate situation, Ms. Ashley shot herself in the abdomen in an attempt to abort.

At the hospital where she was treated, the fetus was delivered by C-section and died shortly afterwards due to undeveloped kidneys. Ms. Ashley's condition was never reported in the media reports, but a member of her defense team says that she is doing well now.

Five months after this event, Ms. Ashley was charged with second degree murder and manslaughter. The murder charge is due to the "illegal nature of the abortion" and the manslaughter charges stem from a Florida law which says that a fetus able to survive outside of the uterus is a person.

The charges against Kawana Ashley are absurd and must be dropped. Her case highlights the recent Supreme Court rulings and cutoffs to Medicaid.

The prosecutor wants to send a message by attempting to jail Ms. Ashley—that women's sexuality is bad and must be controlled by men. Florida is one of the 44 states that doesn't provide Medicaid funding for abortion. Florida is also the site of two assassinations of abortion providers and a clinic escort. The prosecution is in effect punishing Ms. Ashley for her desperate actions that were created by the state of Florida.

Write the prosecutor and demand the charges against Kawana Ashley be dropped!

Justice for Marshall Eddie Conway!

by the Marshall Eddie Conway Support Committee & ABC-Baltimore

Marshall Eddie Conway was arrested 24 years ago and charged with the fatal shooting of a Baltimore city policeman and the attempted murder of two others. He was the leading member of the Baltimore chapter of the Black Panther Party (BPP). Like many Blacks he joined the party seeking a vehicle to end the sustained oppression of Black people. Such people were frustrated by the limited success of the civil rights movement, the assassinations of Malcolm X, and then Martin Luther King, Jr. They united to actively change the "system" by any means necessary.

The US government, which they viewed as racist and oppressive, naturally saw their activism as subversive. The government's response was swift and decisive—covert operations, mounted with the intent of destroying the Panthers and all Black activists.

Eddie insists his arrest was the result of covert operations. He has steadfastly maintained his innocence in the belief that he was singled out for punishment because of his leadership in exposing police agents within the Baltimore chapter. His theory is supported by the extraordinary tactics used by the state to convict him. The case against Eddie relied entirely on testimonies of a paid jailhouse informer and a police officer. There is no physical evidence linking Eddie to the shooting, and there are no other witnesses. The informer, an experienced operative whom the police placed in Eddie's cell (over his objections), claimed Eddie had confessed to him. The officer testified that he was shot at by Eddie several blocks from where the officer mentioned above was killed. The officer identified Eddie as his assailant only after examining two different photographs. Eddie's photo was the only one appearing in both stacks.

The state's weak case against Eddie would easily have been exposed if the Baltimore BPP chapter had not been struggling for its survival. Eddie's defense was organized when the resources of the chapter were nearly exhausted by other costly and complex trials. No less than 21 members, former members, and community workers were either prisoners or fugitives at the time of Eddie's arrest. Always few in number, the Panthers were overwhelmed by their legal predicament. Of course, this too was part of the plan to neutralize them. It was an effective plan, used nationwide. The Panthers found themselves in constant need of lawyers, yet few lawyers were willing to work on Panther cases, especially when their dire financial condition was discovered.

Consequently, Eddie went to trial with scant financial resources and no legal defense team. Against his wishes he was represented by a court-appointed attorney, whom he met only briefly: once in the city jail, and once as he was entering the courtroom for his trial. When Eddie sought to have his lawyer removed from the case, the judge decided that a court-appointed attorney was in Eddie's best interest.

Eddie in turn demanded that the court appoint Arthur Turco, a New York lawyer and Panther supporter, as his attorney. Turco at the time was Eddie's cellmate, having been arrested for his support of the Panthers. When refused, Eddie asked to represent himself, a request that was approved on the condition that a court-appointed attorney advise him at the defense table. As the case proceeded, however, it became clear that the judge did not intend for Eddie to defend himself. He expected Eddie to sit passively at the defense. In protest, Eddie refused to attend his trial, returning only to renew his objections to court-appointed representation. Handicapped by inadequate legal representation, Eddie was predictably convicted in what is still remembered as one of Baltimore's most publicized cases.

Although some post-conviction work has already been done on Eddie's case, his support group was never able to build and sustain the mass of needed legal and financial support. In the several years it took to move Eddie's case to the appellate level, a pro bono team of lawyers pointed to the unconstitutionality of several judicial decisions in Eddie's trial. For example, lawyers contend that Eddie received "hybrid" representation, the result of the judge authorizing Eddie's self-defense, while at the same time permitting court-appointed representation. As such, Eddie had no clear representation, a situation found unconstitutional in other cases. Nevertheless the Maryland courts turned down Eddie's appeal.

For his part, Eddie has remained strong, providing leadership to inmate councils and coordinating meaningful programs for other inmates. He avidly conducts legal research to aid his own and others' defense. While incarcerated Eddie has: earned a BS in social science from Coppin State College; earned an AA in education and an AA in management science from the Essex Community College of Baltimore; organized literary and other events for fellow inmates; become proficient in computer graphics and founded a computer literacy program for inmates.

For the present, Eddie's support group is focusing on efforts for Eddie's next parole hearing. We hope this hearing will yield a positive vote to allow Eddie to make parole. At his 1990 parole hearing, the parole board cited Eddie's excellent record and recommended he continue to progress through the system. They instructed him to appear again in three years. In July 1993 the scheduled hearing was postponed for one year because the work-release program was suspended for life-termers.

For more information and to assist in Eddie's case, get in touch with one of addresses below. Please send letters requesting Eddie's parole to the parole board (copies to the support committee and ABC-Baltimore).

Support Puerto Rican Political Prisoners Held in the US

The US keeps 15 Puerto Rican political prisoners in its federal prisons. Almost all of them have already served 14 years. Their status as political prisoners is undeniable. They are in prison due to their struggle for the independence of Puerto Rico by all means necessary.

Yet the US refuses to accept that it holds political prisoners, and agencies such as Amnesty International refuse to engage in an international campaign to obtain their release.

It is up to us to obtain the liberation of our brothers and sisters held in US prisons. At this moment, there is a campaign in progress to ask President Clinton to grant an amnesty for all Puerto Rican political prisoners.

What you can do right now is write to the prisoners expressing your support, so that they know you are aware of their situation and that you will do what you can during 1995 to obtain their release.

If you want further information about Puerto Rican political prisoners, we can send you material. Please write to:

Now Is the Time to Act to Save the Life of Ziyon Yisrayah

by BCAC

Ajamu Nassor (s/n Gregory Resnover) was brutally murdered by the state of Indiana on Dec. 8, 1994. If we do not act now Ziyon Yisrayah (s/n Tommie Smith) will be brutally murdered as well.

On Dec. 11, 1980 a pre-dawn raid on the home of Ziyon and Ajamu left one man wounded and one dead. The wounded man was Ziyon, who, along with Ajamu, was politically active and had a history of exchanges with the local police because of their stand against social injustices perpetrated against Blacks. The dead man was a white police officer who had participated in the raid.

It was determined at the time that the police officer had been shot in the back, and that the bullet that killed him did not come from one of the two guns within the house, which were fired in self-defense. Until he was shot, the officer had been facing the defendants. Clearly he was killed by someone behind him, and only the police were in that position. The men and women in the house were asleep when the police kicked in their door, threw tear gas inside—setting the couch in the corner of the front room on fire—Rambo-ing and Waco-ing their way in, indiscriminately firing on anything inside with the obvious intent to kill.

A No-Knock-Murder-Plan That Failed

Due to legal incompetence, collusion, or any of the other shenanigans to which poor, Black defendants are subjected to in court with state-assigned public defenders misrepresenting them, Ziyon and Ajamu were condemned to be executed. The evidence that would have absolved them was either suppressed, ignored, or overlooked by the parties bent on malice and wrongful revenge. This whole event was clearly a police cover-up. The evidence that was presented at their appeals trials was ruled inadmissible, since, under Indiana law, any evidence which was obtainable by using "due diligence" before the original trial cannot be used at a later date. The courts cared less that two innocent men were being railroaded and sent to the electric chair. These men had one "public offender" who was an alcoholic, and an appeals lawyer who never even bothered to go to meet her client. Necessary willing witnesses were not called to testify, lies were made and accepted in the court room, the holes in the prosecution's case were never questioned. The court, by following its letter-of-the-law rules in the technical aspects of the case, overrode the consciences and moral duty of the people who had administered the death...A horrifying, barbaric death blow yielded in the most possible bloodthirsty way through execution...by a cold blooded system which now has the blood of an innocent man on its hands.

"Damu Ktika Jicho Langu."

Many individuals and organizations waited until the last minute to try to save the life of Ajamu Nassor, but the Human Rights Coalition of Indiana, based in South Bend, along with some others, have been fighting for the lives of Ajamu and Ziyon for many years—And the fight continues!!! Now (SaSa) is the time to act to save the life of Ziyon Yisrayah (s/n Tommie Smith). This is the legacy Ajamu left to all of us...and it must be done now!!

Recruit comrades, family, friends and associates to write letters to Governor Bayh and demand that he exercise his authority to provide Ziyon with a new trial, so the evidence that will exonerate him can be introduced and accepted. Tell Governor Bayh he was responsible for the death of an innocent man. Tell him to stop the legal lynching now or to resign from office. Tell him to either use his power of clemency or forfeit it.

Governor Evan Bayh
Office of the Governor
The State House
Indianapolis, IN 46204
(317) 232-4567
Fax: (317) 232-3443